Prevalence of metabolic syndrome in 8-18-year-old school-going children of Srinagar city of Kashmir India

Aim: Obesity is the most common cause of insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome (MS). These are the most important risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD). No evidence exists regarding the prevalence of the MS in children in sSrinagar city of Kashmir India. We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of MS in 8-18-year-old school-going children of Kashmir, India. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 758 respondents in 8-18 years of age were randomly selected using a simple random sampling method. The self-designed questionnaire was individually completed after receiving a written informed consent. The weight, height, waist circumference (WC), body mass index (BMI), and blood pressure were measured using standard tools. Ten milliliters of blood was taken for measuring lipid profile and fasting blood sugar (FBS) of the school children. We determined MS according to the modified Adult Treatment Panel III (ATP III) criteria. Results: The prevalence of the MS was 3.8% (boys: 3.9%, girls: 3.8%) and the prevalence of obesity was 9.9% (boys: 9.9%, girls: 10.6%) among the studied children. Obese subjects had the highest proportion of MS compared with those at risk for overweight and those with normal weight (30.7% vs. 2.5% and 0.5%, respectively; P = 0.000). Conclusion: The MS is prevalent even in young children, so we suggest screening programs for children aged 8-18 years to control obesity and MS in the developing world